At the Breakfast Table
by Fried Cheesecake
Summary: For thirty days, Jane is the kitchen wench of the Temple of the Great Kharlan Tree. Mithos is determined to help her. 30 prompts for MithosxOC.
1. Oatmeal

30 prompts for Mithos and my OC, Jane. But reading _A Fool's Paradise_ first is recommended. Also, this story is in chronological order, unlike _A Fool's Paradise_. It also goes a lot more in depth into the Kharlan War.

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><p><strong>oatmeal<strong>

Jane's father, Lord Provice, had hired his young widowed sister-in-law, Meida, to work as a combination of cook and maid of the temple. Provice himself is too busy to do any housework, and he insists that Jane focuses on her studies. She does end up helping her aunt sometimes, mostly in the kitchen because she absolutely hates cleaning. Cooking is fine. She likes being able to start from scratch and create something with just her hands and the open stove.

Unfortunately, Meida has fallen ill. Jane sits quietly in the parlour as a carriage takes her aunt away to Heimdall, where hopefully the Elder will be able to find a cure. It's not too serious, nothing life-threatening; but they want her to get back on her feet as soon as possible.

Jane realizes what this means when her father hands her a cookbook.

"I hate to do this to you," he says, but a smile tugs at his lips. "I know you're not meant to be trapped in a kitchen. But it's only until Meida gets better."

Reluctantly, she wakes up the next morning and drags herself to the kitchen. Oatmeal is easy. She'll start with that.

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><p>Disclaimer: Tales of Symphonia is not mine.<p> 


	2. Blueberries

**blueberries**

And then the next day, Mithos and his band of heroes stumble into the temple. A riot broke out in Meltokio when they entered the city, and they return bearing wounds. Cracked ribs, bleeding scars, broken fingers; Provice is sure Mithos has suffered a concussion. And so the quest to save the world is put on hold for at least a week, until all four of them are fit and ready to go again.

Jane finds herself cursing her luck. Four more mouths to feed. Mithos, confined to the lower levels of the house, takes it upon himself to collect some blueberries from the garden so she'll have some fresh ingredients. In his confused state, however, he crushes half of them, and Jane can hardly hold back tears as he presents them to her, a bloodied bandage wrapped around his head and covering one of his eyes.


	3. Marmite

**marmite**

The morning after, she finally gets settled into a routine and has come to accept her fate as kitchen wench of the Temple of the Great Kharlan Tree. Marmite was originally an English condiment, eaten only by the people of Meltokio and Sybak, but the elves discovered it shortly afterwards and it became somewhat of a delicacy. She's toasting several slices of bread over the open fire, humming as she waits for them to cook, when Mithos peers inside.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead or something?" Jane asks, noting that his previously bloody bandage has been changed. He shrugs, stepping inside.

"I couldn't sleep. I've got a killer headache."

Jane holds out a piece of toast. "Put some of that black stuff on it and eat it. I promise, it's good."

Mithos, unfortunately, never had the privilege of eating elvish delicacies growing up, and therefore has no sense of taste. He is absolutely revolted.


	4. maple syrup

**maple syrup**

"Jane? Do you want some help?"

The kitchen door closes behind Martel as she sweeps into the room, carrying a basket of clean dish towels. Martel is perhaps the least injured of the four heroes. A large bruise still covers most of her left cheek, but she isn't limping like Kratos or delirious like Yuan. She's smiling as widely as ever. Jane watches her carefully.

"Nah, I'm okay," she says. Martel sets down the towels. "It's early. Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I thought you might want some company," she replies cheerfully. She peers over Jane's shoulder, smiling at the can of maple syrup adjacent to the bowl of waffle batter. "Mmm. Maple syrup. Mithos loves that stuff."

Jane scoffs. "Hn. Didn't know that."

"Of course, Jane."

"W-what is that supposed to mean?"


	5. coffee

**coffee**

"Do you even like coffee?" Mithos asks her the next morning. They're sitting in the kitchen, Mithos at the table, Jane on the counter. She holds her mug close to her lips, breathing in the smell.

"Mmm, I guess so," she says. "I only drink it because it keeps me awake, but I guess it's okay."

"What's it like?"

"You wouldn't like it."

"How do you know?"

"Trust me."

"Let me try it."

"Fine, but I promise you won't like it."

Jane slides off the counter, sloshing coffee around, and hands it to Mithos. He eyes her suspiciously before taking a sip. Almost immediately, he spits it out, splattering Jane.

"Wow, _cool_ Mithos!" she says exasperatedly, taking the mug back. "Way to get coffee on me!"

"That's vile!" he exclaims. "Ugh, how can you drink that?"

"I told you that you wouldn't like it!"


	6. bacon

**bacon**

The sizzle of fat in the frying pan echoes through the kitchen, the delectable smell of bacon wafting up through the house, and for the first morning since starting her new duties, she's actually happy to be up. She's definitely improved her cooking skills. Not to mention that she can count on Mithos for company due to his splitting headaches. It's hard for him to sleep at night, so he gets up early and meets her in the kitchen. Today he's solving complex exponential fractions that Kratos gave him to practice his algebra skills. For a half-elf who grew up without much in the way of education, he's surprisingly good at math. Jane can add and subtract, and that's about it.

"Why are you even doing that stuff?" she asks, pointing to the worksheet. Mithos looks up. He's been staring at the paper, tapping his pencil against the table, frowning at one of the problems. He shrugs.

"I dunno. Kratos gave it to me." He scratches down a number and moves onto the next problem. "Besides, it's something to do; other than sleeping or reading, I mean."

Jane gets up to remove the bacon from the pan; she can't help but glance back at him every few seconds, and once she catches him watching her. "Somehow I find it hard to believe that Kratos is concerned about your mathematical skills when the world is on the brink of imploding."

"Well, apparently he does. Don't ask me why."

She realizes, with guilty selfishness, that she's jealous of Mithos. Not because he's a hero off to save the world or anything; no, she's more envious of the fact that he gets to go places and learn new things. Jane's a sucker for history and culture, but she's stuck in the temple all the time, trapped in the kitchen, not to mention she knows more Elvish history than she could care to remember. She wants to learn about the rest of the world. She wants to be able to compare her education to great people, like Queen Soleille, or even Yuan, who appears to know everything there is to know about anything you could ever want to know about. Most of all, she's jealous of Mithos because she knows she's not as good as him. He's a hero, and he's brilliant. And even though he's a half-elf, he's done incredible things, and she knows that he has much further to go.

Jane is going to be stuck in the temple for the rest of her life.


	7. eggs

**eggs**

Mithos insists on helping her that morning, instead of sitting at the table doing algebra. He sucks at cooking though, and when Jane tells him to crack a few eggs for omelets, he smashes them against the counter and sends yolk flying everywhere.

"Mithos!" she shrieks, standing in shock. She can feel wet egg sliding down her forehead. Mithos looks just as ridiculous, but he's laughing so hard that Jane can't help but join in.


	8. cookie dough

**cookie dough**

The next evening, Jane finds herself working late into the night. It's that time of the month again, and she's having severe cravings for chocolate chip cookies. Now that she's in charge of the kitchen, she can take control of her own desires and not have to wait until the next day. She mixes up the dough from scratch, humming an old Elvish drinking song as she does. Happily, she takes a spoon, scoops up some cookie dough and sticks it in her mouth. This is a mistake.

"Ohmygawd," she murmurs, spoon still in her mouth. "That is _so damn good_." Humming, she takes another bite- and then another, and another. Damn it, screw the cookies; this is so much better.

Jane wanders into the hall a few minutes later, a wrapped-up roll of cookie dough in her hands. Mithos could be anywhere this time of night. He's not in the infirmary like he should be, so she checks the parlour, meeting room and library, where she spots him in the courtyard below, sitting at the base of the Great Tree. Swiftly, she heads down the stairs and steps outside into the warm air of late summer. Mithos looks up from his book as she approaches, and smiles as she sits down next to him.


	9. noodles

**noodles**

"I don't even know what fettuccine alfredo is," Jane exclaims, staring at the menu. Provice sighs.

"The Sylvaranti ambassador is particular about his meals," he explains nervously. "We're in no position to refuse him; remember, he did spare the temple when the Sylvaranti Navy came through here last year."

Jane gives her father a look. "Really, though, how can he expect _me _to be able to cook all these Sylvaranti dishes?"

"Luckily for you," Provice says, steering Jane toward the library. "We have Sylvaranti cookbooks. I'm sure fettu- whatever it was is in there somewhere."

Grumbling, Jane takes the menu and stomps into the library, startling a sleeping Mithos.

"What the hell, Mithos?" she exclaims, grabbing the nearest cookbook. "I imagine that desk isn't too comfortable."

Mithos sits up in his chair, rubbing his eyes. "Nnnn," he murmurs. "I just sort of passed out here."

Jane sits down across from him, rolling her eyes. "You're a dork. By the way, any idea what fettuccine alfredo is?"

"Sounds like a disease."

"Yeah, you would say that."


	10. soy sauce

**soy sauce**

Jane's been snooping in the pantry for new ingredients, searching for inspiration. She's made decent meals for the last ten days, but she's running out of ideas. She pokes through bottles that have been sitting in the dark cupboard for years- paprika, goji berries, wasabi, bags of unopened cashews… she doesn't even know where half of this stuff came from. She never knew their pantry was so multi-culturally stocked.

She comes across a bottle of soy sauce. She first heard of it the day before, reading through cookbooks to find that Sylvaranti recipe. She stumbled upon an old set of recipes from Mizuho; a list her father had brought back the last time he'd visited the hidden village. She's never had it before, so she sprinkles it liberally on a bowl of rice and forces Mithos to eat it.

"Augh!" he yells, mouth full.

"Chew it, damn it!" Jane shouts back. "It can't be that bad!"

"Ugh, too salty!" Mithos cries, grabbing a glass of water.

"It's delicious, what are you talking about? You have no appreciation for fine dining!"


	11. grits

**grits**

When Jane's mother was still alive, she'd often cook what she called southern home-style food; dishes that originated in the southern plains beneath the Latheon Mountains. Lady Marisa grew up there, though Jane never visited her mother's home. Every so often though, she'd get cravings for southern foods that her mother used to make: biscuits and gravy, cornbread, red beans and rice, pecans, catfish, fried okra… she misses it all, and it's times like these that she whips up the only southern recipe she can remember.

She's not really even sure what grits is. She asks her father and he says something about ground up cornmeal, so she decides she's better off not knowing.

Much to her horror, Jane realizes that Mithos is from the northern part of the continent and will never have experience true southern grits. In fact, when she shoves a bowl in his face, he reveals that he's never even heard of grits.

"I'm a little nervous about this," he says, stirring the grits with his spoon. Jane frowns as he continues. "I mean, after the soy sauce yesterday…"

"I didn't even know what that was!" Jane protests. "I've been eating grits for as long as I can remember! They're good, I promise."

Giving her a disbelieving look, Mithos scoops some onto his spoon and hesitantly eats it. Surprisingly, he doesn't spit it out. After a few seconds, Jane nervously asks, "Well?"

Mithos stares down at the bowl. "Not bad," he admits, and takes another bite.

Jane's heart nearly bursts.


	12. chicken noodle soup

**chicken noodle soup**

The next day comes and goes. Jane remains in bed with a fever all morning, rolling around in her sleep and sweating. Provice comes in to take her temperature and offer a hot cup of tea but she is too sick to accept even that. It's not until mid-afternoon that she is able to rise from bed. Her stomach is churning but she hasn't eaten since supper last night.

She realizes that she has skipped out on her daily kitchen duties; but she is sick and she's not sure everyone else would want her touching their food and getting them sick too. She figures she'll just go down and make herself some toast, or a jam sandwich or something. She's not in the mood for anything spectacular- just something that will go down easily and hopefully not come up.

She runs into Kratos and her father's assistant on the way down the stairs.

"Feeling better, Jane?" the assistant asks cheerfully. She's not really feeling better at all and she can tell by the look on Kratos' face that it must be showing. She sneers at him and moves on.

Jane doesn't expect to see Mithos in the kitchen, but he's there when she walks in, sitting at the table with a full bowl in front of him. A book about summon spirits is propped up against his bowl.

"I made some soup," he says, and Jane is pleased to hear that she is not the only one with a sore throat. "Since we're sick… you know."

Jane nods. "Well, thanks." Her voice cracks too, so they sit together in silence and choke down the soup.


	13. peanut butter

**peanut butter**

Jane is deemed fit to return to kitchen duty the next day, but mostly because everyone is tired of cooking for themselves. Mithos, however, has only gotten worse; on top of having a concussion, he is now laid up in bed with a head cold. He spends the day in the confines of the infirmary, alternately sleeping and vomiting. Jane is feeling just a little bit bitchy today so (even though Mithos made soup for her yesterday) she decides she'll make some really good peanut butter cookies, the kind she made Mithos for his birthday, the kind she knows he likes. And then she's going to eat them in front of him.

"Oh, hey Mithos," she says, sidling into the infirmary with a tray of cookies. "What a coincidence seeing you here."

"Yeah, it's not like I'm sick or anything," Mithos carps at her, his arms crossed. "What are you even doing in here?"

"Funny story that," Jane laughs, shoving another delectable cookie into her mouth. "I was just taking these cookies out to the courtyard." She gestures at the open set on infirmary doors that lead to her referenced location. A cool autumn breeze floats in, relieving them of the heat of early September in southern Tethe'alla. "I just happened to end up here instead. Silly me."

"I hate you so much."

"Nah, you love me." She tosses a cookie at him. "Just have one."

"I'll only throw it up."

"But it'll be worth it."


	14. sunflower seeds

**sunflower seeds**

The heroes are going to be setting out again the next day since Mithos has gotten over both his cold and his concussion. Kratos is restless, and Yuan is anxious to leave the country. They've wasted two weeks hanging around at the temple, but if they're ever going to end this war then they need to get moving. Martel decides that they shouldn't spend such a lovely day inside, so she packs up a basket and drags Mithos, Jane and Yuan two miles up the road where they sit on a grassy hill under a willow tree and throw sunflower seeds at each other before Martel scolds them for wasting food.

It's weird, Jane thinks, that for the first time since her mother died she finally feels like she belongs to a proper family. Yuan and Martel are lounging under tree, talking and laughing with each other, and they're perhaps the cutest thing she has ever seen. She and Mithos wandered into the woods where they are now, feet dangling into a stream as birds sing overhead.

Mithos usually keeps his thoughts to himself, so Jane is surprised when he comments on how he wishes everyday could be like today. She agrees, glad to know he finally trusts her.


	15. potatoes

**potatoes**

The temple's had many visitors since Jane's family moved in: elvish, human and everything in between. Jane observes during these visits, and through this acute way of study she has learned a lot about the differing cultures of the world.

On the morning of the heroes' departure, Jane throws some hot potatoes onto a plate with a creamy sauce covering it and tosses a bowl of it to each of them when they walk into the kitchen. She serves herself and they sit down to eat-

But she stops and instead watches Mithos mash up the potatoes on his plate, the same way Yuan and Kratos do. Jane turns to Martel and her father, who are each delicately cutting up their potatoes before eating them. That's the way Jane herself does it.

Mithos notices her staring at him while he savagely mashes the potatoes. She shakes her head and mutters, "Cultural differences."


	16. guacamole

**guacamole**

Lunch the next day is interesting. Provice has a visitor from the royal city who plans on spending the night, but Jane doesn't realize who the guest of honor is until her father asks her not to mention Mithos, Martel, Yuan or Kratos, but especially not Kratos.

The man is a monster. He is huge, in the way you would expect of a bodyguard or assassin, and carries himself with a certain arrogant pride. He sits in the dining room with her father, talking too loudly and laughing grimly and never smiling. He speaks of war and blood, never once mentions the son he disowned, the son Jane knows is more of a man than he will ever be.

She doesn't even know what guacamole is, but she spies a leftover can of it in the pantry. The Sylvaranti ambassador's party must have left it here. Neither she nor her father particularly liked it, so she dumps the green goo into a bowl and definitely does not on purpose trip and spill it all over General Aurion's dumb face.

She knows he could kill her with one hand, or have her sold to the slave market in Altimira, but she doesn't even care because she is so sick of this damn war, and racism and discrimination, and she's not even half-elven or anything but she wants it to end. She takes the risk and is lucky when the General only hits her once or twice.


	17. spaghetti

**spaghetti **

After the visit from Kratos' father, Provice is not necessarily angry with Jane; in fact, he understands her actions very well and she knows that he admires her for her courage, but at the same time he feels as though she should understand her place and not bother with someone as powerful as Lord Aurion. Jane knows he means well; but what a sexist thing to say, considering he encourages Mithos to do exactly the same thing.

She only comes out of the kitchen to gather herbs from the garden; otherwise, she stays cooped up inside. Her father comes in once to let her know that he will be working late and won't be at the dinner table; so for supper she gathers some noodles and fixes a tomato sauce to go with it. She eats alone at the kitchen table, and realizes with a jolt that Mithos left behind a sheet of unfinished math problems. Jane only glances at it, but she knows that she can't ever hope to solve any of them.


	18. pumpkin pie

**pumpkin pie **

"I almost forgot!" Provice exclaims as he bursts into the kitchen. "It's Gnome's Day today! With everything that's been going on, it totally slipped my mind."

Jane looks up from her coffee. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" she says slowly. "Damn. Are we having a feast tonight or something?"

"Well, it's just us," her father says with a shrug. "But we'll have to pay our respects and offer prayers to the Great Tree later. Now that I think about it, I wish we could have made the pilgrimage to Gnome's temple this year; it's the only temple within reasonable distance, besides Shadow's temple of course, but we wouldn't be able to get in there anyways, not without the blue candle, and Yuan took it with him… anyways, with the war going on, travel is a hassle, and I think that area might be occupied by Sylvarant right now anyways, I don't want to cause any trouble with them, they're notorious for capturing Tethe'allan civilians, even if we are elves…"

Provice stops to take a breath, but before he can start again Jane holds up a hand. "I'll make a cake or something," she says. "A spicy autumn pudding. Something like that. What was it Mum used to make?"

Provice's eyes glaze over, but with fondness, not tears. "Pumpkin pie. Marisa could make a mean pumpkin pie. I haven't had that in a long time."

Jane pushes back her chair, startling her father out of his daydreams. "Challenge accepted," she says, and for the first time since the Aurion incident, she and her father smile at each other.

Later, they pray together at the base of the Great Tree as the moon shines overhead. Her father whispers to himself, praying for the same things he does every night: the end of the war, the end of discrimination, the end of totalitarian rule…

Jane finds her thoughts straying to Mithos. He and Martel will be celebrating tonight, wherever they are. Kratos and Yuan will be with them, of course, but Kratos wouldn't understand and Yuan wasn't raised by the elves. She prays for their safety, and for the first time, she prays that maybe one day Mithos will like her back.


	19. cooking oil

**cooking oil**

The knock on the door comes as a surprise to Jane; she was balancing a full glass of cooking oil, carrying it across the kitchen with shaking hands when someone decided it would be great idea to scare the shit out of her and bang on the front door as loud as they could. She jumps, drops the cup and listens to the glass shatter. Cooking oil oozes out onto the tile and she stands still for a moment, cursing whoever has come to visit her father.

"Back so soon?" she hears Provice say from the main hall. Curious, Jane peeks out of the kitchen door and is surprised to see who else but Mithos and his gang of heroes.

"The Sylvaranti army has occupied the entire Meltokian continent," Mithos explains as he later helps Jane wipe up the oil off the floor. "There's a battle going on just outside of Meltokio itself. The capital has yet to fall, but the Tethe'allan knighthood is no match for legions of trained soldiers."

"Well where is Tethe'alla's army?" Jane asks, wringing the mop. "They've got to send reinforcements! If Meltokio falls, Sylvarant has as good as won the war, and that's not good for any of us."

Mithos shrugs, sitting back on his heels. "We don't really know. The Sylvaranti stronghold in Flanoir is rumored to have fallen to Tethe'alla already, but no one's really sure whether or not that's true because ships haven't been able to get to Flanoir to find out."

"Why not?" Jane asks with a frown. "The Sylvarantis have got an enormous navy, they shouldn't be concentrating all of their forces on Meltokio."

"Well," Mithos starts, "it's partially because of the Altimiran fleet trying to claim northern waters, but everyone knows that Tethe'alla is going to annex Altimira soon enough anyways, so they're really just wasting their time. Right now, most of the trouble is with pirates. They raid any ship they come across, and they're not afraid to attack a military vessel."

Jane sits back, staring at her hazy reflection in the shine of the floor tiles. "Let's hope…" she says. "Let's just hope that everything is ok in the end."

Mithos reaches over and grabs her hand. "It will be. We just have to believe."


	20. baby food

**baby food **

In the middle of the night, Martel pulls Jane out of bed, saying that there are children in the kitchen downstairs and they have to help them. Jane stumbles down the hallway, following Martel who also apparently snatched Mithos out of his slumber.

"They're just kids," Martel says, her long nightgown fluttering behind her as she runs down the stairs. "It's horrible, really; the oldest, he's just a boy, he said that their father's been fighting in the war for as long as any of them can remember, and their mother sent them off when Edelstein was attacked by Sylvarant."

"What the hell is Edelstein?" Mithos grumbles as he rubs his eyes and follows Martel down the stairs. Jane recognizes the name.

"It's to the northeast of here," she says. "Parallel with Heimdall, but on the other side of the continent. How'd they end up all the way down here?"

Martel shakes her head. "They wouldn't say. It must have been a rough journey though. The Sylvarantis have taken the eastern coast, the Tethe'allans are still standing strong near the mines, and the elves have launched a defensive army that protects the Latheon mountain border. These kids would have had to pass through both Tethe'allan and elvish defenses. I'm surprised they made it out alive."

The trio enters the kitchen, where four human kids sit at the kitchen table, looking rather subdued and tired. The boy's two sisters sit across from him, watching Martel as she starts fussing over them, and a baby who can't be more than a year old is sleeping on his shoulder. Mithos and Jane look at each other. Neither of them has ever had experience with children before, apart from kids their own age, and even then, Mithos was always an outcast, and Jane never had any neighbors to play with.

Martel rushes off to find some blankets for the kids, and that's how Jane finds herself spreading butter over bread while Mithos attempts to spoon feed some crushed up carrots to the baby. He obviously has no idea what he's doing, and it makes the other children laugh to see their baby sibling spit orange mush back up on Mithos' shirt. Jane smiles, and joins the children at the table.


	21. sausage

**sausage**

Jane is not fond of cooking meat, and she is not pleased when her father asks her to prepare a string of sausages from the pork that's been hanging in the smokehouse. She agrees, the four lost children do need as much protein as they can get; but damn it, she hates handling raw meat. She reckons that she can count on Mithos to be manly and help her to grind up the meat and stuff it into scraped pig intestines, but he's even more disgusted than she is.

"Man up!" she cries, swinging a frying pan at him. "Come and help me!"

"I'd rather not spend my afternoon scraping the guts out of a pig," he says, dodging the blow masterfully. "But have fun with that."


	22. fish

**fish **

Mithos and Jane return to their picnicking spot from last week, sitting down by the river with their fishing rods, hoping to catch something for dinner. They have the four children in tow; the kids have been stuck in the temple for the last two days and were anxious to get out and play. Not to mention that Jane is tired of digging around in the pantry to look for ingredients to make a decent meal.

"You think they'll be alright?" Jane asks Mithos quietly as the children sit on the opposite side of the river, making daisy chains and dangling their toes in the river.

He glances at them. "The kids, you mean?"

"Yeah. They'll be okay, won't they?"

Mithos is quiet for a moment, watching the children splash each other with water. The oldest sees him looking at them, and turns away, flushing.

"I think so," he says finally. Jane stares at their reflections in the water, waiting for him to continue. "They have each other, don't they?"

Their situation is remarkably similar to that of Mithos and Martel, and they've come this far, haven't they? Jane nods. "Yeah. As long as they stick together, they'll probably be fine."


	23. cheesecake

**cheesecake**

Provice's managed to find a family on the south side of the continent that is willing to take the children in for the duration of the Sylvaranti occupation of Edelstein. Jane's grown a little attached to them, she will admit. She hasn't spent much time with them, granted. They usually cling to Yuan and Martel, and every once in a while they stray to follow Kratos who is decidedly uncomfortable by the presence of small children trailing him around the temple. But Jane has to admit, they have been a welcome change from the dull kitchen life she's grown so used to, not to mention that when the kids are around Mithos can't bitch and whine like he usually does.

Jane occupies herself in the kitchen that evening, searching for some kind of dessert to serve as a going away treat for the children. It isn't so easy find a recipe for something that she is actually capable of baking. Her father grows most of the vegetables they eat and they keep a few turkeys in a pen in the courtyard, but the rations they receive once a month from Heimdall are late. Provice says they'll probably never come. The Tethe'allan forces have seized the Latheon mountains, forcing the Elvish defenses to retreat to Heimdall, and the Tethe'allans don't seem too keen to let good ingredients pass through their ranks to some psycho Elvish religious cult temple- not to mention they probably suspect that the General's fugitive son and his gang of half-elves are hiding out there.

"I wanted to make cheesecake," Jane sighs when Mithos inquires as to why she's standing the kitchen looking hopeless. "But we're out of eggs and low on butter and sugar."

"And that," Mithos exclaims, striking a heroic pose, "is where I come in."

Jane rolls her eyes. "You can't cook, Mithos. Sorry to rain on your parade, but you managed to burn a salad."

Mithos frowns. "That was _one _time. Just give me a chance, would you?"

She throws her arms into the air (sometimes, singing aaayo, gotta leeeet go) and moves aside. "Fine. Go wild. You have free reign of the kitchen. Just don't screw up."

She sits back pretending to read while Mithos runs around the kitchen, flinging sour cream onto the counter and smashing graham crackers with his fist. He seems to be having way too much fun.

"Are you sure you're making cheesecake?" she asks suspiciously. Mithos pauses, holding a spatula in one hand and a bowl of blueberries in the other.

"I know what I'm doing," he says confidently. "Relax."

Thirty minutes later, he proudly holds out a cheesecake complete with a blueberry sauce on top.

"It's eggless," he explains, holding it up in the dim light of the flickering oil lamp. "We never had eggs growing up, so my mama would always make this instead."

It's the first time he's ever said anything to her about either of his parents. She knows from Provice that he never really knew his father, an elf who committed suicide shortly after Mithos was born, but the only thing she knows about his human mother is that she once walked miles in the rain in the middle of the night to find him after he ran away from home. To be honest, Jane is touched that he's sharing this kind of information with her. He never speaks about life in Heimdall, and he rarely even talks about his most recent adventures on this epic journey of his, so she is trapped in an awkward moment where she's not quite sure how to react.

She finally settles for a, "Thanks, Mithos" and a smile, before handing him a knife and letting him do the honors of slicing the cake.


	24. alcohol

**alcohol **

They sit in the shadow of the Great Tree, shoulders brushing as they listen to the soft sounds of the dawn. They've been up all night. Yuan and Kratos had whisked the children off last evening; they had ridden out earlier that day and spotted Tethe'allan forces on the move, heading towards the temple. Provice wanted to get the children to safety as soon as possible, and he had wanted Jane to go with them. She'd refused to leave.

Kratos had been right though. A Tethe'allan scout had come by the temple at midnight, claiming that Queen Soleille's Quartering Act applied even to Elvish residences. Provice had no choice but to let him inside as Jane frantically led Mithos and Martel to the hidden cellar underneath the storage room. She'd squeezed both of their hands before promising them that they'd be safe. Luckily, the scout had only bothered to survey the main building of the temple, apparently finding it not suitable for the army to claim, and had left within the hour.

Mithos passes her the bottle and leans his head back against the trunk of the tree, closing his eyes. There is no drinking age in Elvish territory. The temple is technically part of the human lands of Tethe'alla, where she's not legally allowed to drink for another three years, but she doesn't even care anymore. Jane takes a drink, her throat burning as she swallows. She doesn't mind a bit of a sting, as long as it takes away that heart-pounding feeling of pure terror. She had thought that they were going to be found out. She was certain the scout would have found Mithos and Martel hiding the cellar, and then it would have all been over. They would have been executed for treason, all four of them, whether by the elves or by the army. And Yuan and Kratos would have fallen trying to save them.

"This is the first time," Mithos says quietly. They glance at each other. Jane opens her mouth, but finds she cannot speak. Her heart is still beating in her ears.

"This is the first time I've really been scared," he continues. Mithos would never speak like this without the alcohol; he doesn't even look away when he says it. They stare straight into each other's eyes, trying to figure something out. Jane doesn't know what.

"I thought they were going to find us," Mithos whispers, and it's only then that she sees the tears in his eyes. _Don't cry._ _Don't let this be the first time I see you cry. Save it for happy tears_. "I've been all over the world, and I've heard talk of camps. Death camps. For people like me."

"…for half elves?" Jane asks groggily. He nods.

"And for resistance fighters. In every town, people whisper. They talk about how the secret police come in the middle of the night and take their neighbors away. They never see them again. They don't know where they take them. But when they take you away, you never come back."


	25. mushrooms

**mushrooms **

Yuan and Kratos haven't come back yet. The rations still haven't arrived. Jane and Martel climb through the woods behind the temple, gathering mushrooms and berries and anything that they know for certain is edible. Jane knows that Martel is worried. The only words they share are the names of the birds that they see overhead. Neither of them speak of the day before. Jane wants to ask Martel if Mithos was making up those stories of death camps. She wants the green-haired woman to laugh again, to tell her how silly her little brother is.

But Martel does not laugh.

Jane sees the outline of Yuan's handgun tucked into Martel's boot, and she reminds herself that they are at war.


	26. onions

**onions**

It's a miracle. No one can believe it, and they stand in stunned silence as Yuan and Kratos drag a cart into the temple's front yard.

"Where…" Provice tries to ask the obvious question, but he can't even begin to form the words. Yuan grins brighter than Jane even knew was possible, and pulls Martel in for a kiss as Kratos attempts to explain.

"You mean you stole this entire cart?" Mithos asks, sounding half scornful, half admiring. Kratos lets out a huff.

"There wasn't anyone guarding it," he says, trying to defend his knightly honor. Jane smirks as Mithos gives him a look.

"Regardless, you still stole it."

"Mithos, you would have taken it even if there was someone standing there."

He shrugs. "Well, yeah, but you, Kratos? Really?"

Jane peers into the cart and picks up an onion. It looks fresh. Someone nearby is growing vegetables. A sack of clams sit in the cart. And seafood? It almost feels like a trap, but Yuan and Kratos swear they checked it out before taking it. She feels a bit guilty for taking someone else's food, but hey. They left it out in the open.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Kratos rationalizes.

Jane couldn't agree more.


	27. clam chowder

**clam chowder **

They find out the hard way that Mithos is allergic to clams.

"That's weird though," Jane says thoughtfully, pulling his hair back into a ponytail for him. "You were fine when we had fish and oysters; but clams make you sick."

"Stop talking," Mithos moans as he leans over the bucket.


	28. rice

**rice**

It's hard to not eat all the food at once. Jane's been trying to save the best stuff, to work them back into a normal diet. They finally have eggs again, and even a little bit of milk. The rich stuff like that is going to be saved for a special occasion, and she has a feeling that that occasion is coming up pretty soon.

She found Yuan and Kratos in the library yesterday, drawing dotted routes along a map of Sylvarant. Summon spirit temples were circled with red ink, and the nearby map of Tethe'alla showed a trail from the temple to the west coast on the continent, where they will presumably set sail for Sylvarant. They're leaving soon, and she really can't blame them. The army is closing in on them. It's much safer if they get out of the country as soon as possible.

She stirs a bowl of broth and rice at dinner, glancing from her own bowl to Mithos, to Martel, and then back again. Yuan and Kratos have holed themselves up in the library, and her father has gone to join them. The heavy silence that hangs over the dinner table assures her that they all know what is coming, even if none of them want to admit it.


	29. okra

**okra**

"Meida is going to be stuck in Heimdall for a while," Provice tells her the next morning. Jane blinks. She'd almost forgotten about her aunt's sickness, the reason she lives and breathes in the kitchen in the first place. "I'm afraid you'll have to be on kitchen duty for a little while longer."

Jane smiles. "It's actually not too bad," she admits, removing the okra from where it had been cooking over the open fire. "I've gotten used to it."

Provice looks a little relieved. "Well, that's good news," he says. "But I'm sure you've noticed. You'll be cooking for just the two of us for a while."

Ah. She was hoping he wouldn't bring that up. "I see," she says quietly. Her father senses her mood and excuses himself from the room.

She was hoping it wasn't true. She doesn't want to see any of them go, but particularly not Mithos. They've grown quite close over the last few weeks. It'll be painful to say goodbye, knowing that she's sending him off into the middle of a war. But she knows it has to be done.


	30. cake

**cake **

"You told me once that you have a fondness for olive oil cake," Jane says, removing the lid from her latest concoction. Mithos blinks in surprise.

"I did, didn't I?" he asks, smiling a little bit. "I can't believe you actually found a recipe for it. It's a Palmacosta specialty."

"That's where a Sylvaranti cookbook comes in handy," she says, and starts to cut the cake. Mithos actually giggles, and she has to stop to stare at him.

"Sorry," he mutters, still smirking. "But how did you even remember that I like olive oil cake?"

Jane narrows her eyes. "You told me, remember?"

"Yeah, almost two years ago. I only remember telling you because it was probably the stupidest thing I've ever said in my life."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, I just sort of said it, you know? We were just sitting there and- I mean, we barely even knew each other. And I…" Mithos trails off, and Jane almost faints because he giggles again and a small blush blooms on his cheeks. "And I just randomly told you that I like olive oil cake."

Jane rolls her eyes. "Yeah, well, I only remember because I thought it was the stupidest thing anyone had ever said to me. Just be glad that I went through the trouble of wasting olive oil to make it for you."

"Aw, thanks, Janey-bear."

"Call me that again and this knife is going through your head."

Mithos' rare laugh fills the kitchen, and soon Jane finds herself chuckling beside him. She thought, with all that had been going on lately, that their last day together would be a sad event. And maybe she'll cry tomorrow when she wakes up and realizes he isn't there, but for now, she's fine with laughing.


End file.
